Trump Tweeted Transgender Ban Just Hours After FBI Conducted Pre-Dawn Raid on Former Campaign Chief’s Home

Did Trump use his transgender ban – an attack on the transgender community, the LGBT community, and our allies – as an attempt to detract from possible news that the FBI had raided his campaign chief’s home? 

In a pre-dawn raid just two weeks ago, on July 26, law enforcement officials from the FBI executed a search warrant and scoured one of the homes of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

“Federal agents appeared at Paul Manafort’s home without advance warning in the predawn hours of July 26, the day after he met voluntarily with the staff for the Senate Intelligence Committee,” as The Washington Post just reported. 

But just hours after the raid, in an entirely unexpected attack, President Donald Trump took to Twitter and announced, with no forewarning nor in consultation with the Pentagon, he was instituting a ban on all transgender service members in the U.S. armed forces.

“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military,” Trump tweeted. “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.”

Many have been curious as to what prompted the new policy. Various reports have claimed Trump was debating it in the days prior, but if there’s one thing Americans have come to expect from this Commander-in-Tweet, it’s that he is a master of deflection and obfuscation.

Was Trump scared that the FBI had just searched Manafort’s home? Did he want to ensure Americans would not be talking about the raid? Is his transgender ban merely another attempt to deflect attention from the Russia investigation, which is clearly closing in?

In case you’re not convinced, the transgender ban was not the only extreme act Trump took that morning. It was, in fact, a day many thought Trump was behaving off-the-rails, even for Trump.

Let’s take a look at his tweets:

6:49 AM: Trump seems very pleased with his campaign rally the night before, but minutes later, he lashes out at Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski for helping block ObamaCare repeal:

Less than two hours later, 8:55 AM, the transgender ban, out of the blue:

40 minutes later, an attack on his attorney general and acting FBI director:

A few hours later, an attempt to re-live the night before’s thrill:

Hours later, perhaps relieved the Manafort raid hadn’t hit the news, a few attempts at “good news”:

Did Trump use his transgender ban – and the transgender community, the LGBT community, and our allies – as an attempt to detract from possible news that the FBI had raided his campaign chief’s home? 

There’s still time – join the more than 1000 people who have signed our petition: Tell President Trump You Support Our Transgender Service Members and Oppose His New Ban

UPDATE: 12:03 PM –
Raw Story’s Travis Gettys makes a similar connection in a report titled, “Coincidence? Trump and Scaramucci kicked off a bonkers news cycle in the hours after Manafort raid.” Gettys adds that on that same day, July 26, Trump and his now-former Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci “soaked up most of the day’s news coverage with their outrageous tweets and bizarre CNN interviews — and Anthony Scaramucci later that night threatened an FBI investigation against then-chief of staff Reince Priebus.”

To comment on this article and other NCRM content, visit our Facebook page.

Image by Ted Eytan via Flickr and a CC license